For Love of Lakes

Limnos II—Fox Lake, Illinois

· · 81 · · Limnos II—Fox Lake, Illinois Ifonewishestobecomeacquaintedwiththeblackbass,for example,hewilllearnlittleifhelimitshimselftothatspecies.He mustevidentlystudyalsothespeciesuponwhichitdependsforits existence,andthevariousconditionsuponwhichthesedepend.He mustlikewisestudythespecieswithwhichitcomesincompetition, andtheentiresystemofconditionsaffectingtheirprosperity;and bythetimehehasstudiedallthesesufficientlyhewillfindthathe hasrunthroughthewholecomplicatedmechanismoftheaquatic lifeofthelocality,bothanimalandvegetable,ofwhichhisspecies formsbutasingleelement. STEPHEN A. FORBES, 1887 The Chain of Lakes in the Fox River Basin of northeastern Illinois has attracted visitors since not long after the Civil War. The trickle of fishermen and vacationers became a flood when the rail line from Chicago arrived in 1900. An advertising pamphlet published in 1909 carried ads for thirty-four hotels and resorts, five taverns, four boat lines, two boat builders, and sundry commercial establishments, though the resident population of the town was a mere 400 souls. Today more than 3 million people recreate annually on the area’s waters. Unlike these millions, Geri and I have come to Fox Lake not for recreation but to visit a very significant historical site. Though I expect there are plenty of historic sites in northern Illinois, the one we seek does not commemorate a military battle or the home of a great leader. I know of no granite slab memorializing what happened here. That’s an oversight. We have come more as pilgrims to see where a perception was born and to honor the man who changed forever our understanding of lakes: Stephen A. Forbes. lakescapes· · 82 · · At the moment we are puzzled. We cannot locate on our city map of Fox Lake and environs a public landing from which to launch our canoe. We drive north out of town looking for any road that breaks east in the general direction of the lake. After two false starts, we find one and turn onto it. The narrow ribbon of tar winds left then right, then up, then down, through a wooded residential area, fall leaves covering the ground. We find ourselves deposited in a cul-de-sac, stop the car, and look around for a way to get to the lake without trespassing. We have inadvertently blocked the way of someone backing a car out of a driveway. An elderly man walks toward us. I roll down my window. “Can I help?” he asks. “We’re looking for a place to get on Fox Lake,” I reply. “Any public access ramps nearby?” “No,” he says. “It’s all private property around here, but there’s a park back at the edge of town where the highway goes over a bridge. That would put you on Lake Nippersink.” He doesn’t ask why we want to go on the lake on such a chilly windy day in November, so I’m not forced to try to explain. We thank him and retrace our route back to the highway and locate a postage-stamp-sized Rotarian park at the water’s edge across railroad tracks from the highway. A maroon truck, rusty around the edges, and a black van sit empty in the gravel parking lot, and two men stand on the shore fishing. One man is fishing for carp. The other, from Arizona, says he was told you could catch most anything here, muskies, northern pike, catfish, crappies, and sunfish, and he’d settle for any of them. Two lone individuals sit in separate cars looking out at the lake. A sign announces no dogs, no booze, and the park closes at dusk. Another sign has a red slash through a red circle enclosing a stick figure swimmer . With the lake water so murky, the no swimming sign isn’t needed. A sign at the cement boat ramp declares, “No Boat Launching. Strictly Enforced .” I presume the restriction does not apply to nonmotorized canoes. No watercraft are in sight as we push off a gravelly shore into Nippersink and head toward Fox. • • • Stephen Forbes launched an intensive study of these lakes over 120 years ago to better understand lake ecology. Influenced by the urgings of Louis · · 83 · · AgassizatHarvardandotherstoraisethestandardsinnaturalhistorystudies ,Forbeshadsetouttoexamineingreatdetailthefeedingrelationshipsof thecreaturesoflakes.Howdopopulationsofpredatorsandprey,plantsand animals, remain as stable as they seemed, he wondered. His essay “The Lake as a Microcosm,” encapsulating insights gleaned from his studies, became a foundation paper and launched him into the pantheon of ecology’s superstars. The essay describes his work on six lakes of the Fox River Basin and Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. Since it devotes more attention to his work on Fox Lake than to the others, that is the lake we’ve come to see. • • • Shortly we round a point. A sign informs us we are now on Fox Lake. My Secchi disc...